


breaking the bones of your heart like twigs

by succulents_and_fairy_lights



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Inspired by the telltale series, What-If, but can be understood if you haven't played, i actually edited this one, i'll explain in the author's note, yes editing we live like wonder woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:28:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24262114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/succulents_and_fairy_lights/pseuds/succulents_and_fairy_lights
Summary: He chooses Batman.Alfred leaves.
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Gotham City & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 4
Kudos: 30





	breaking the bones of your heart like twigs

**Author's Note:**

> so i finished batman: the telltale series season two last night, and immediately went upstairs to write this down by hand lmao  
> if anyone who is reading this hasn't played the game, here's a quick summary/set-up for this:  
> Basically, Alfred tells Bruce that he's leaving, and the player is given the option to choose whether Bruce will give up Batman, or give up Alfred.  
> I chose to give up Batman (after 20 minutes of deliberation and literally flipping a coin [harvey dent whomst]), but I was thinking about it and this is what I think would happen in the aftermath if Bruce chose Batman.

He chooses Batman. Alfred leaves.

The moment he hears the outside doors click, the moment when there is no more hope to hold out for, the moment he knows Alfred is truly and fully gone, Bruce begins to cry. He clings to the pool table for support as the gut wrenching sobs tear through his body. Soon, he can no longer keep himself upright, and he crumples to the floor.

He lays there, almost curling in on himself, looking not unlike a police chalk outline, and he cries like a  _ child _ . The tears sting his eyes and the cuts on his face. His ribs are screaming and his muscles are screaming and  _ he  _ is screaming and he doesn’t know when he started but he can’t stop.

Can’t stop.

Couldn’t stop.

Not even.

Not even for Al—

When he feels near dehydrated and the tear ducts close up and his eyes feel dry and puffy, he stands.

His legs and arms and hands shake, but he pulls himself up. 

And he goes into the bathroom and throws up. 

It’s as if he’s on autopilot now, mechanically flushing the toilet, splashing cool water on his face, grabbing a towel.

He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and immediately looks away.

He walks back into the foyer, looking in the direction of the parlour, but goes to his study instead. In one of the cabinets there sits a nearly full bottle of brandy. He saved it for special occasions; the closure of a particularly tricky case, Harvey’s promotion to DA, Alfred’s birthday.

He takes it out now, and he drinks.

And drinks.

He drinks as if he’s trying to forget, but forget what, exactly? His childhood? Alfred raising him? His decision? Alfred leaving? There’s too much, and he knows he could never, would never, forget it.

But still he drinks.

He drinks until the bottle is empty.

And another.

He stays like this for hours. Days. Weeks? Until the calls from Tiffany and the texts from Selina and the Batsignal from Jim become too urgent. 

And then he stands.

Batman stands. 

And he leaves to protect the city he loves. The city that has betrayed him, wrung him out, and beaten him up at every turn. But, he tells himself, he would still choose this city every time.

Every time.

So he goes, and he fights the villain-of-the-week. He puts them behind bars, and then he waits for their eventual escape. For the cycle to begin again.

Because that’s what it is, isn’t it?

A never-ending cycle of some twisted catch and release game, and the only way it ends is if they, or if he—

  
  


Batman dies six months later.

Alfred’s prediction is almost prophetic. How fitting would it have been if the mission ended in the same place it all began, in Park Row? But, life doesn’t play to cliches like that.

Batman dies in a dirty street gutter, bleeding out as some thief who got lucky gets away.

Batman dies in the slums, but Bruce Wayne dies in the parlor, six months before, watching his father leave. 

Batman dies with a gunshot. 

Bruce Wayne dies with the click of a door. 

(Alfred attends the funeral. 

He blames himself for it for the rest of his life.) 

The city, against all predictions, goes on. A shiny investigative reporter starts work at the Gotham Gazette, and around the same time, a god with super strength and lasers from his eyes takes upon himself the title of Gotham’s protector. The city is somehow brighter than it’s ever been.

Batman leaves a gaping hole in Gotham, but slowly, surely, one stitch at a time, the city begins to mend. Other heroes step up, joining the ranks. Some are inspired by Batman, others inspired by similar situations as Bruce.

They fight together, form an army, a team,to keep crime at bay.

And somehow, it works. 

Crime rates hit an all time low, the Wayne family becomes a cautionary tale, and the Batman is just a story parents tell children, or friends tell friends. 

(“I met him once, ya know,” they say. “Seemed like a real great guy.”)

And maybe that was what he was meant to be; a warning, a myth, an inspiration for people to see the best in others, to fight for what’s right. 

Or maybe he wasn’t. 

Maybe he was meant for more, so much more than that.

But there’s no use theorizing, or wondering, or wishing for the “what it’s” or waiting for the past to change.

Batman dies, and Gotham moves on. 

End of story. 

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from the richard silken poem "visible world" which can be found [here](https://reflections.yale.edu/article/end-times-and-end-gamesis-scripture-being-left-behind/visible-world)
> 
> for readers of my other works, I KNOW I said i would update "what a privilege" soon, like a month ago, but i promise you, i am working on it. Steph is giving me issues lol 
> 
> Don't be afraid to drop a comment, I'll always respond! <3


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